The invention relates to a server for searching for information in a network of databases, in particular the Internet.
When users do not know the address of a remote database server that may contain information they require, they often perceive discovering that address as difficult. The user logs on to a specialist database, referred to as a xe2x80x9csearch enginexe2x80x9d, and formulates a request made up of keywords and logical operators such as the AND and OR operators. Gaining the ability to compose that kind of request entails a learning process that puts off many users.
There are also dedicated servers supplying lists of addresses organized like a printed directory. Servers of that type are difficult to locate, however, and they are not always easy to use.
What is more, navigation servers, whether they constitute search engines or not, supply responses in the form of pages which are displayed on a screen with a standardized presentation that does not necessarily suit all users.
Furthermore, in conventional servers, search results are processed by a common gateway interface (CGI) which cannot totally guarantee the confidentiality of calls and which is easily saturated when a plurality of users are on-line.
The invention remedies the above drawbacks.
It provides a server which includes storage means for storing information relating to users and to the databases of the network, means for receiving a request to search for information in a database of the network and means for generating a response in the form of a user interface and allowing for the characteristics of the person conducting the search.
Accordingly, selecting the databases and/or the characteristics of the user interface takes account of the particular features thereof, which makes the process easier for the user. In particular, personalizing the user interface makes it easier to use, for example because the interface is then matched to the user""s computer and peripheral devices and because in the proposed response the choice of servers is limited to those containing information suited to the user. Thus if users want to shop on-line, the responses could be limited to servers of vendors close to their home.
This ease-of-use can also simplify making the original request submitted to the server, since the search field can then be limited to suit the characteristics of the user, the number of keywords to be sent can be reduced and graphics or text elements representing the required information can be used. For example, users can have on their application a first set of graphics elements with which they start the search and in response to which the server sends them other graphics elements enabling them to refine their search and which are preferably personalized.
For example, the characteristics of users which can be entered into the memory of the server relate to their home, age, sex, tastes, and ability to use the available navigation tools (or, more generally, the available data processing tools and hardware).
Thus, for the same enquiry, the selection and presentation of data can be substantially different according to whether the user is a 12-year-old child or an adult.
The selection and presentation can also vary according to the tools available to the user, in particular the operating frequency of their microprocessor and the characteristics of their screen, graphics user interface, audio interface, etc.
In an embodiment of the invention the characteristics of the user are updated periodically in the memory of the server taking account of search requests submitted to the server between two updates.
In the preferred embodiment of the invention the storage means or the generator for synthesizing responses in the form of user interfaces is accessed via the combination of a multithread server program for distributing or sequencing processing tasks and other tasks and which allocates a task (thread) to each user who submits a request. Thus a plurality of users can be satisfied virtually simultaneously without having to increase the number of server programs, unlike the CGI interface, which requires multiple starting of the main program. In other words, a multithread server program of the type used in this embodiment is constantly listening out for requests and does not need to be restarted each time a new request arrives. It therefore retains a limited memory space, whereas with a CGI interface a new memory space must be allocated to each request.
The invention is not tied to a particular network access or server technology. Nevertheless, implementing it in a telecommunications system is facilitated if that system includes a subscriber management station. This is because, in this case, the management station includes a memory containing characteristics of subscribers and the server of the invention can use them.
In an example of a telecommunications network of this type, which employs satellites in low or medium orbit, coverage is divided into terrestrial areas each having a radius of several hundred kilometers. Each subscriber to the network logs on to the network via a management station and calls between a network subscriber and the management station use reception and re-transmission means on board a satellite.
The present invention provides a server intended to facilitate searching for information in a network of databases, such as the Internet, which server includes a database containing the addresses of the databases of the network and an indication of the contents of those bases. The server includes storage means for storing data characteristic of users, that data being selected, for each user, from the group including the following characteristics: home or place of work, age, sex, address, interests, personal details, ability to use data processing tools and hardware characteristics. Means are provided for selecting database addresses to be supplied to the user and/or the presentation of the selection allowing for the characteristics of the user.
In an embodiment of the invention, requests submitted by users are interpreted by a translator before they are communicated to the database.
The server includes a generator for synthesizing objects or applications, in particular intelligent multimedia objects or applications, to be sent to the user and parameterized either to provide access to a particular address or to generate a particular request in the database.
Intelligent multimedia objects include small programs which can be interpreted by a virtual machine, such as JAVA, JAVASCRIPT or VBSCRIPT programs.
In an embodiment of the invention, objects or applications to be sent to a user are chosen from the group including: icons, animated objects, texts, sound, and three-dimensional images.
In an embodiment of the invention, the server includes a memory for storing the selected data supplied to the user at least temporarily and for sending the user the address in the selected data memory of the data sent.
In an embodiment of the invention, the server includes a lexical translator for converting requests submitted in natural language into interpretable requests.
The server preferably includes means whereby the selected data communicated to the user is in the form of a user interface.
An example of the server includes a connection to a subscriber management center of a telecommunications network, that connection enabling loading of the storage means that store the data characteristic of users.
The server can include means for updating the characteristics of users as a function of search requests previously received from the user.
In an embodiment of the invention, the server includes means which are on standby at all times, waiting to receive requests from users and to activate a request distributor.